Go all the way with full no contact if you’re going to block a narcissist. If you only block them on social media or on your phone, they’re likely to act up on whatever platform they can access.

Don’t respond to any insults or threats. Remember that it’s not your fault that this is happening—you’re doing nothing wrong by cutting them out of your life. If you ever feel like you’re in danger, do not hesitate to contact the police.

This is probably a best-case scenario. If you’re dealing with a narcissist who thinks they’re the greatest person of all time, blocking them may be the way to go.

At this point, you can take solace knowing they’re probably giving up. They know they have no power over you, so they’re doing the only thing they can—denying.

For example, if you’ve got a narcissistic friend who yearns for your attention by always playing the victim, they may stop for a week or two. Unfortunately, whatever change they make is highly likely to be short-lived. They’re very likely to start complaining soon enough.

For example, if you’ve talked to a narcissist about not criticizing your life choices and you block them, they may start telling people you’ve got a problem criticizing others.

They may do this in an effort to draw you out into contacting them. Don’t give them what they want. For example, if you cut off a narcissist because they refused to stop lying to you, they may hop on Facebook or Snapchat and go on rants about you’re a compulsive liar.

If you prefer, you can just let friends and family know that you’re putting a moratorium on any questions about what happened with the narcissist. If you don’t want to get a ton of questions about what happened, you may want to consider cutting off mutual contacts whom you aren’t close with.

The trick here is to refuse to engage. Let them make themselves look petty and silly by making false accusations and refusing to let it go.

This is often a last-ditch effort to keep you around, but they’re unlikely to keep their word here. If their initial reaction to being blocked is fury and now they’ve suddenly changed their tune, it’s an especially big sign they don’t mean it.

This isn’t to say that you should 100% never block a narcissist—that may indeed be the best option for your mental health and overall happiness.